pagarkai poriyal/ bitter gourd fry

Bitter gourd is the favorite vegetable for both me and my husband. i started liking bitter melon only from my college days before that i used to run away from it. I somehow started to eat the vegetable and became a great fan of this amazing vegetable.

My athai used to make crispy round bitter gourd varuval and store it in air tight containers which my husband finishes off in few minutes. He likes all bitter gourd dishes. No matter how bitter it is.

Ingredients

• Bitter gourd 5nos
• small tomato 1
• mustard 1tsp
• channa dal 1tbsp
• urad dal 1tbsp
• red chilli powder 1tbsp
• red chilli 1 no
• asafoetida a pinch
• turmeric powder 1tsp
• shredded coconut 2tbsp
• jaggery a little
• curry leaves few
• canola/ sunflower oil 3tbsp
• salt to taste

Method

• Wash and finely chop the bitter gourds into tiny pieces.
• Heat oil in a Kadai and add mustards, urad dal, channa dal, asafoetida, curry leaves, red chilli, turmeric powder and saute well.
• Now add the finely chopped bitter gourd and fry for five minutes.
• When the vegetable is half cooked, add the red chilli powder and required salt. fry well for another 3 to 5 minutes. The vegetable has to shrink in size and the raw smell has to completely disappear.
• Now add little jaggery to it. squeeze a tomato over the bitter gourd and cook for one minutes. finally, add some shredded coconut to it.
• Bitter gourd fry is ready and this is a good combination for rasam and curd rice.